Jonathan Stroud - The Dagger in the Desk

I grinned back, flushing a little, as I sometimes do when Lockwood trains his smile on me. ‘Oh, that’s OK,’ I said. ‘It wasn’t just me, really. This job’s all about teamwork, isn’t it? I couldn’t have done it on my own.’ I gazed down at the pile of coins, and at the boxes stacked against the walls. ‘Think this stuff’ll be worth anything now?’

‘Expect so,’ Lockwood said. ‘Mr Whitaker can probably afford more refurbishments to the school.’

George picked up his bag. ‘He might start with the boys’ toilets. I can smell them from here. So, is that it, then? Are we done?’

Lockwood nodded. ‘Yes… Yes, I think we are.’

And with that we left the room behind us, and went to have a bun.

The most common variety of Type One ghost, a Shade is weak, faint and unresponsive to the living. It keeps to itself, endlessly replaying a single moment from long ago. Easy to subdue using salt and iron.

The traditional floaty female ghost, usually featuring long hair, longer dresses, and plenty of weeping and hand-wringing. Generally wracked by ancient grief or guilt, Cold Maidens are too self-absorbed to be much of a problem to agents.

A formidable Type Two spirit, ethereal, translucent and hungry for contact with the living. Phantasms are hard to spot – even for those with psychic Sight – and are best observed out of the corner of one’s eyes.

The solid-seeming Spectre is the most common of Type Two ghost. At a casual glance, it may be hard to distinguish from a living person; closer analysis will reveal its old-fashioned clothes, unnaturally bright eyes, and undead pallor.

Not the variety of ghost you’d want to meet on a dark night. Voracious, malevolent and cloaked in the shape either of a skeleton or a rotting corpse, a Wraith can overpower its victims through power of terror alone.

A mercifully rare Type Two apparition, revealed as an undulating cloud of blackness. Hangs in the air, swelling and shrinking, while sending out tendrils to snare the onlooker. Also leaves behind appalling ectoplasm stains on wallpaper and soft furnishings.

This Type Two spirit produces no visible apparition, but moves material objects using telekinetic power. Weak Poltergeists ruffle curtains and knock books off tables; strong ones can wreak havoc across whole buildings.

Unlike most ghosts, which always maintain the same appearance, the Changer can alter its shape and behaviour. Animal guises are common, and far weirder shapes are not unknown. This unpredictability makes a Changer very hard to destroy.